Often, a metal part or component is used in a manner which requires it to rub against an adjacent hard surface. In such an environment of use, frequently, the metallic part or component wears rapidly to the point of galling and small pieces of the metallic part or component may come off resulting in damage to adjacent structures, reduction in the life of the part or component and other detrimental effects.
As such, a need has developed for a wear resistant coating which may be applied on a metallic surface, which coating has a greater degree of hardness and lubricity than the metallic surface on which it is applied. With such a wear resistant coating so applied, wear of the metallic surface can be significantly retarded thereby resulting in increased life of the part or component having the said metallic surface.
As such, a need has developed for a wear resistant coating which may be applied to such a metallic surface to protect the surface when it is engaging adjacent hard surfaces so as to prevent galling or other wear and thus increase the life thereof.
In the past, ceramic coatings for metallic parts and components have been tried without great success. It has been found that the melting point of the ceramics is generally higher than that of the base metal on which the ceramic is being applied, therefore, the application process generally resulted in destruction of the metallic part or component not to mention its temper. Furthermore, even if one could be successful at coating a ceramic on a metallic part or component, such ceramic coating would not tolerate any bending or flexure of the metallic part or component since such bending or flexure would result in cracking of the coating.
Other types of coatings have been tried including combinations of methylmethacrylate and ceramics. While results from the use of this combination of materials for a coating are better than through the use of a ceramic alone, it has been found that adherence of a coating made from these constituent parts is inferior. Even the milling of grooves in a metallic part or component would not adequately solve the problem. As such, a need has developed for a coating which may be applied on a metallic part or component which will adhere to the base metal while providing a surface of increased hardness to thereby protect the base metal and therefore increase the life and durability of the metallic part or component.